In the latest against science's long-standing grudge against rats, the boffins at Harvard Medical School have experimented with a system that allows the human mind to trigger actions in a rat's motor cortex, making the antics of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin one step closer to possible.

The test involved humans equipped with sensors who watched a screen that flashed in sync with their EEG brain patterns for visual stimulation. As soon as they turned their attentions to rat domination, they triggered an ultrasonic pulse that caused its tail to twitch.

Even within the rather niche research field that is Rat Control, these tests have their problems. For starters the poor dominated creature was in a state of heavy sedation, which likely affected the results, and the system with which they carry out these diabolical works is not yet sophisticated enough to match specific thoughts to corresponding actions.

The good folk at Harvard is refining the technology as we speak, however. We don't know why, but when it comes to science as cartoon supervillain as this, it's best just not ask questions and let them get on with it, lest you be the first victim of their mind-controlled rodent hordes.

Scientists Have Built A Casino For Rats To Demonstrate Gambling Addiction

Scientists from the University of British Columbia in Canada have built a 'rat casino,' finding that bright sounds and lights make the rodents more prone to taking risks when gambling. Yes, this is as fascinating and insane as it sounds.

Harvard University researchers have created the world's first non-invasive brain-to-brain interface between a human and a rat. Simply put, you can control the rat with thoughts, making for a both fascinating-yet-terrifying discovery (hello Nineteen-Eighty Four). This is a critical step towards technology allowing for telepathic links between human beings.

Scientists Demo System That Charges Electric Cars Through Tyre-To-Road Contact

Electric cars are the future, so we're told. But even so, few still can put up a strong argument for favouring the green alternative to the gas-guzzling motors we have taken for granted for decades. For one; mileage ranges, while ever-improving, are still far from substantial for the average road user. Now, the era of the electric car is one step closer, with scientists ably demoing how electricity can be passed through concrete to charge cars on the move, paving the way for an electric motor future.

A New Insight Into A Harvard Scientists' Bid For Immortality

Self-described “outlandishly futuristic thinker” and post-doctoral scientist at Harvard Ken Hayworth believes that he can live forever. Described in the article ‘The Strange Neuroscience of Immortality’ by Evan R. Goldstein, Hayworth theorises that the day will come where his ‘consciousness’ will be “revived on computer” after death, and predicts that by 2110 mind uploading – the transfer of a biological brain to a silicon-based operating system – will “be as common as laser eye surgery is today”.

Humans And Rats Interact Via Virtual Reality 'Beaming' Experiment

Researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Barcelona have built a virtual reality system that allows for humans and rats to interact. These cross-species meetings have tested a process known as 'beaming' in which people take control of digital representations of themselves to carry out virtual interactions. Think Avatar; but with rats.